Don's Secret
by hummerhouse
Summary: Sharing an emotional burden usually brings relief, but sometimes it's a cause for more fear. Multi-chapter, 2k3. References to SAINW. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Don's Secret  
part 1

Donatello slumped against April's couch cushions and stared into his glass of sangria. Seated nearby, April watched him, waiting in silence for him to finish his story.

The turtle was unused to alcoholic beverages, but April had pushed a drink on him in spite of that. Normally she wasn't one to promote the use of alcohol for dulling emotional turmoil, but in this instance Don had needed it to get him talking.

They were alone in April's apartment. A couple of hours earlier the pair had been down in her store, working to repair the lighting inside two wood and glass showcases that April had acquired at an estate sale. Since the incident with Nano and his thieving 'daddy', April had been loath to show jewelry in her front window, but not properly displaying it made it hard to sell. The showcases would help with that, once they were fixed.

Don had been his normal, gregarious self when he'd arrived, duffel bag and tool belt in hand. April had been pleased that there were no outriders with him; as much as she loved all of the turtles, she really wanted to accomplish something without having to watch that the rest of them didn't break anything.

Besides that, she hadn't spent much time with Don since they'd defeated Drako and the Daimyo's son. She'd heard a little of the story from Raph and Casey, but Casey didn't know much and Raph kept going on about motorcycle races and 'damn magic'. Her natural curiosity wasn't assuaged.

They'd stuck to business for the first half hour. April had cleaned and sanded both cases preparatory to staining them, happy that they weren't too banged up. Don had given them the once over and assured her that he could fix the minor blemishes in the wooden exterior and then he'd gone to work on the electrical wiring.

April and Don caught up with small talk for a little while and then she'd told him about learning of the Drako incident from Raph. Don telling her about their adventures was usually second nature and no big deal, but as soon as April asked him about the time line he'd been sent to, Don went both quiet and stiff.

It surprised her into silence. Never having seen Don clam up so quickly about anything worried April, but she didn't want to jump in with questions right away. While he focused on the repair job, April focused on finding a way to get him to open up.

Don had completed the wiring on both cases in record time. April had a feeling he'd worked as fast as he could in order to leave before she asked anything else about the Drako incident. Pretending that she didn't notice his desire to get away, April asked him up to her apartment for a slice of cake. When he'd started to say he didn't care for any, April had interrupted to say that she'd baked it for Master Splinter and he could do her a favor by taking it to him.

That ruse had gotten him upstairs. She'd gotten him to sit down by saying that she had to put the cake into a container so he needed to wait for a couple of minutes.

When she'd walked in carrying two glasses of sangria, Don had looked up at her in bewilderment. Pushing one of the glasses into his hand, April had seated herself on the couch not far from him, taken a sip, and looked at him expectantly.

"I think I know you well enough by now to tell when something is bothering you," April had said firmly. "I didn't mean to bring up a subject that's obviously painful, but you're intelligent enough to know that bottling it up inside you isn't good. Please Donny, won't you share your burden with me?"

Don had taken a deep breath and then released it slowly. Looking into his gentle brown eyes, April could see the pain he was trying to conceal and it made her heart ache. His hand was trembling as he lifted the glass and drank from it, coughing slightly as the alcohol hit the back of his throat.

"Every one of us . . . ." Don began, pausing to inhale again. "We were all sent to alternate worlds. He meant to leave us there, separated from our family and trying to survive as best we could. He wanted us to suffer."

"Raph made it sound as though he just had another great adventure," April had softly replied.

"He kind of did," Don had told her. "All three of them did. Master Splinter was locked in a dungeon to worry about us, but my brothers made the best of their situations. I guess I did too, in a way. My best wasn't good enough."

"Go on," April had urged, not making an attempt to relieve him of the guilt she could now see bleeding through in his expression. Any words she could offer would make no sense until she knew the full story.

It had taken a while but she'd finally gotten most of it out of him. She was stunned and saddened by his tale, especially upon learning that her counterpart had lost Casey and that their Master Splinter had been killed while trying to protect his sons.

Finally Don lifted his glass and drained it of its contents. He shuddered as the alcohol made its way into his system and then set the glass on the coffee table.

"My plan worked," Don said. "I destroyed the Shredder and that April took out Karai. But when I looked up, all of my brothers . . . ." He stopped talking as a choked sob escaped him.

April leaned forward to set a comforting hand on his arm. "Tell me."

He turned his face to her and the full impact of his pain hit her like a freight train. "They were dead," Don whispered. "I got them all killed."

"Oh Donny," April said, tears filling her eyes. "What a horrible experience. I'm so sorry."

She scooted closer, leaning her forehead against his in order to soothe him. Don's eyes closed and he reached up to grip her shoulder, using April as a buttress to calm his raging emotions.

Don was shivering from reaction and April began to instinctively make shushing sounds, the way mothers did with their babies. She slowly stroked his arm and after a few minutes his trembling began to fade.

"You didn't get them killed," April whispered when she thought he was ready to hear her. "From what you've said, they knew the odds were bad but they chose to make a last stand as a family. You gave them that. What they were doing before was no way for them to live."

"If I'd had more time . . . ." Don began.

"You didn't," April said. "You knew you could be pulled away at any minute. They needed to be free Donny. You were the only one who could do that for them, for all of them. You gave them the chance to do the one grand thing, the only crucial thing that could wipe away years of suffering and bring them peace. They wanted that so they could stay together, to be with their Don and their father."

"Do you think so?" Don asked, the desperation in his voice bringing a constriction to April's throat.

She swallowed and then sniffled. "Yes I do," April said firmly. "I'm sure your real brothers said the same thing."

Don released her and leaned back, shaking his head. "I haven't told them and I'm not going to," he said adamantly.

April stared at him in surprise. "Surely they've asked. What did you say?"

"I just said it wasn't as exciting as what happened to them and changed the subject," Don said.

"But why?" April asked.

"It doesn't matter April," Don said, standing up. "Maybe I don't want Mikey worrying about losing his arm or Raph and Leo treating each other differently because of what happened on that alternate world. Please promise me you won't say anything to them. I told you the story in confidence."

April placed her glass on the table and got up too. "All right," she said, searching his eyes. "If you think this is the best way to handle it. It's your decision and I can respect your reasoning. If you do need to talk about it, I'm always here for you."

Don's expression softened. "Thanks April. I do feel better having gotten to talk about it with someone."

He picked up his things and April escorted him downstairs. At the door, Don turned and smiled at April. "I'll be back tomorrow to finish repairing those cases. They're going to look great in the store."

"I appreciate it, Donny," April said. "Are you okay to drive?"

"I'm fine," Don said, walking over to the Battle Shell. "The eggnog Raph insists we drink during the holidays has a stronger kick to it than that glass of sangria."

April giggled, watching as Don drove away. With a big sigh, she went back inside and set about locking up for the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was just after midnight almost two weeks later when April's phone rang, waking her from a deep sleep.

With her eyes still firmly shut, April groped around on her night stand until her hand came into contact with the phone. A couple of minutes had passed by the time she got the phone near her ear but the caller apparently kept redialing, refusing to talk to her voice mail.

"Hello," April said, her voice a sleep induced slur.

 _"April, sorry for the late night call,"_ Mikey said, his tone vibrant and obviously wide awake. _"Have you seen Donny?"_

"Hmm, what? No," April said. "Is he supposed to be here?"

 _"We don't know,"_ Mikey said enigmatically. In the background April could hear Raph talking loudly, catching the words _"Casey wake up!"_ as he shouted them.

Fully alert now, April sat up and asked, "Mikey, what's going on? Why is Raph yelling?"

 _"He's on the phone with Casey,"_ Mikey answered. _"We haven't seen Don in hours and Leo said we should call you guys to find out if he was with either of you."_

"I haven't spoken to him in a couple of days," April said, her feeling of dread rising as she kicked off the bed covers and swung her feet around to the floor.

 _"No big deal,"_ Mikey said, sounding unperturbed. _"He's probably at the junk yard and just lost track of time. Sorry I woke you up."_

"Don't hang up!" April exclaimed before Mikey could disconnect the call. "Mikey? Mikey are you still there?"

 _"Yeah April, I'm still on,"_ Mikey answered, sounding puzzled. _"What's wrong?"_

April jumped up from the bed, shedding her night clothes as she ran for her closet. "You have to find him! You have to find him now!"

Switching her grip on the phone so that she could get dressed, April heard Leo ask his brother, _"What's going on?"_

Mikey's mumbled aside was still audible. _"April's freaking out about Donny."_

 _"April? It's Leo. What's the matter?"_ Leo asked, having taken the phone from Mikey.

"Leo, there's no time to explain," April said frantically, trying hard not to panic. "You guys have to go out and find Don. Get Casey out of bed and make him look too. I'll take my van and search the nearest junkyard, you guys split up and check the others. Check anywhere he usually goes. Now Leo, do it now!"

 _"Raph,"_ Leo called out, his mouth turned away from the phone, _"tell Casey to get up and go look for Don at the junkyard by the river near his apartment."_ There was a pause, and then Leo said, _"I don't know yet, just do it."_

April heard Raph relaying instructions and then Leo's voice was back in her ear, _"Mikey's waking Master Splinter so he can let us know if Don comes back while we're out looking for him. It'll be all right, April. We'll find him."_

"God I hope so," April said, hanging up and shoving the phone in her pocket as she darted out of her apartment and downstairs to where the van was parked.

As she pulled out into the street, she mumbled to herself, "Please, please let us find him."

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Don's Secret  
part 2

April struggled to keep the van just under the speed limit as she drove towards the junkyard closest to her store. It wasn't Don's favorite or one he frequented often, but she knew the guys would be searching all of the others.

Because she didn't want to draw the attention of the police, April fought to remain calm so as to avoid the temptation to lead foot it. To keep her mind focused, April repeated the mantra, "He's fine, Don's fine. He got distracted and lost track of time."

In Don's story of the futuristic horror he'd been sent to, neither his brothers nor the Shredder seemed to know what had happened to the Don of that world. If that was the case, then it was clear to April that the Foot had not gotten him. That didn't rule out accidents or Bishop, someone that April feared more than the Shredder.

April unconsciously pressed down on the accelerator as she thought of that man, an agent of the U.S. government. If he had Don . . . her mind shied away from the possibility as she came within sight of the junkyard.

Having something to focus on held her panic at bay. Don had long ago fitted her van with a device that would block most security cameras and she used that before pulling up to the locked gate. Leo had taught her how to pick locks and she made short work of the one on the gate, pushing it open so she could drive inside, and then closing it again in case a police patrol drove by.

Her phone was close at hand, mounted in a special sleeve on the dashboard because Raph had advised her that in an accident it was the only way she'd know where the phone was. The searchlight atop her van was courtesy of Don and Mikey. The youngest of the turtles, who was quite adept behind the wheel, had told her never to pull into tight spaces, even if she needed to see into them. Getting out fast was much easier to do if there was room to maneuver.

As she turned on the searchlight and drove slowly past piles of junk, April realized just how much the turtle brothers had influenced her life. They were absolutely her family and tears pricked the corners of her eyes at the thought of losing any of them. Especially Donatello.

Don was her closest, dearest friend in the entire world. They understood each other in a way that no one else ever would. Even with how deeply she cared for Casey, he could never fulfill the intellectual side of her personality. Not the way that Donny did.

Rolling her window down, April began to call out, "Don! Donatello! Are you out here?"

Every few seconds she would pause to listen for an answer. Her eyes strained to penetrate the darkness past the glow of her searchlights. By the time she'd completed an entire circuit of the yard, April was convinced that Don wasn't there.

Grabbing her phone, April punched in Leo's number. He answered on the first ring.

 _"April? Did you find him?"_ Leo asked.

"No," April said, unable to stop a small quiver from sounding in her voice. "I guess that means you haven't either."

 _"Not yet but we're still looking,"_ Leo said. _"His favorite stomping grounds are pretty big, so it's taking us longer. We haven't seen the Professor so we can't ask if he's talked to Don."_

"What about the automobile stripping yard out near the pier?" April asked.

 _"Raph's there now,"_ Leo said. _"Can you drive by the manufacturing plant on Green Street? Maybe he decided to pick up some scrap metal."_

"Did he take the Battle Shell?" April asked.

There was a pause before Leo said, _"No. It looks like he went on foot. But that doesn't mean he didn't run over to check what might be available."_

April knew he'd said that to ease her nervousness. Since there was a remote possibility that he was right, she appreciated the effort.

 _"I'll head there now. Please let me know right away if you find him, or find some clue to where he might be,"_ April said.

" _We will,"_ Leo assured her. _"Try not to worry."_

"Easier said than done," April muttered once she was off the phone.

Driving towards the manufacturing plant, April barely recalled closing and locking the junkyard gate behind her. She knew she'd done it because being thorough was a habit ingrained into her by her Uncle Augie and by Master Splinter.

Thinking of Master Splinter made April remember the look on Don's face when he'd recounted the part of his story where the future Mikey had taken him to see his father's grave. The fear of losing Master Splinter was one that was deeply seated in all four of the brothers.

The time their father had gone missing after they'd attacked the Shredder had been bad for all of them. Raph was constantly angry, Leo berated himself for leaving their father alone, Mikey paced and chattered endlessly, and Don . . . Don didn't sleep. April was sure of it because she spent virtually all of her time at the lair helping with the search.

There was no way that Don would make his family worry like this if he could help it. Once more April's thoughts turned to Agent Bishop. The man had managed to get his hands on all of them before, and just recently had almost killed them in order to kidnap Master Splinter. April had fought the man; she'd listened to his sociopathic rants. He thought too much of himself to give up on his goals and one of them, she knew, was to dissect the turtles.

More frightened than she'd ever been in her life, April ignored the little warning voice in her head that said not to speed and practically raced to the manufacturing plant. The scrap yard behind the building was fenced in but only had one camera and that was aimed at the gate. There a security guard sat in a booth and he didn't even bother to look up when April drove past.

Parking the van down the street, April circled around to the opposite side of the guard booth and scaled the fence. There were no 'beware of dog' signs and she didn't really care if one jumped out at her right now; she was too agitated to be scared.

Using only a pencil flashlight to illuminate her way, April searched the scrap yard as quickly and thoroughly as possible. There was no sign of Don and she noticed that the dust hadn't been disturbed on several stacks of usable scrap metal that she knew would have caught his interest. He hadn't been here.

With a frustrated huff, April made her way back to the fence and climbed over, jogging over to the van. She was just about to place her phone back into the sleeve when it rang. The sound startled her and she nearly dropped the phone before hurriedly answering it.

"Donny?" April asked hopefully.

 _"April, it's Leo,"_ the turtle leader said. _"Have you been to the plant?"_

She could hear the tightness in his voice and came close to crying. "I just left there. Oh Leo, where can he be?"

 _"Honestly, I don't know. We've run out of places to look. We've been calling his shell cell every fifteen minutes without getting an answer. Mikey grabbed the tracker before we left the lair but it's giving us nothing,"_ Leo said.

"Damn," April cursed, her voice quivering. "We can't give up."

 _"We aren't going to give up,"_ Leo told her, sounding a little harsh, _"but we need to regroup. Meet us back at your apartment. If he's in trouble and can't get back home, that's the next place he'd go."_

"Maybe he's there now," April said.

 _"I sure as shell hope so,"_ Leo said as he hung up.

April's grip on the steering wheel was white knuckle tight as she headed back to her apartment. She could barely keep her eyes on the road as she drove, her head swiveling in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Don. She remembered how anxious she'd felt during their search for Splinter when he went missing, but April was sure it wasn't anywhere close to how she felt right now.

It didn't help that Don's story kept creeping to the forefront of her mind. _What if_ . . . it kept saying to her and fighting it back proved to be futile. The ramifications of Don going missing had hit her as soon as Mikey had called to ask if she'd seen his brother.

April pulled into the alley alongside her store, noting that the Battle Shell was already parked there. As she stepped out of the van, she heard the rumble of two motorcycles and turned just as Raph and Casey pulled in from opposite directions.

As Raph took his helmet off he jerked a thumb towards the brother's vehicle and said, "Leo's here already. Mike took the Sewer Slider."

Unlocking the entrance to her store, April preceded the two males inside and led the way upstairs, moving fast. When she entered her apartment, she immediately spotted Leonardo, who was pacing.

He looked past her at Raph. "Anything?"

"No," Raph said flatly. "Where the shell could he be? This ain't like him. He ain't the type to just go missing."

The words were barely out of his mouth when they heard someone rap on the window. Leo crossed over to it quickly, sliding it open to admit Michelangelo.

"Oh man, I was hoping he'd be here," Mikey said after a swift glance around. "I went everywhere I could think of and didn't see a sign of him. His shell cell still isn't showing up on the tracker either."

Mikey held it up to emphasize his point and they could all see that the only signals showing were from the three shell cells inside of April's apartment.

"He always tells you guys where he's going, don't he?" Casey asked. "So how come nobody knows where he's at?"

"Maybe he has a girlfriend," Mikey offered and then said, "Ow!" when Raph smacked him on the back of the head.

"Not the time, Mikey," Raph growled.

"April," Leo said, spinning around to face her, "you knew something was wrong as soon as Mikey called. Did Don tell you he planned on doing something that caused you to worry?"

"No, nothing like that," April said. She bit her lip, her concern for Don's safety warring with the promise she'd given him to keep his secret. The longer she held her tongue, the more danger Don could be in, but she'd never before broken a confidence with any of them.

Leo seemed to sense her dilemma. "Whatever he said might help us find him. I know you don't feel right in sharing something he told you in private, but that could be a clue to his whereabouts. Please, April. I'll take the heat for it if Don gets upset."

With a heavy sigh, April sank down on the couch, her legs no longer willing to hold her upright. The weight of Don's secret, in light of current conditions, was too heavy for her to bear alone.

"Don was here a couple of weeks ago helping me with a pair of display cases," April said. "It was about a month after Bishop had kidnapped Master Splinter. So much had been happening that we hadn't had the chance to catch up and I asked him about the Ultimate Drako incident."

She glanced at Raph. "You remember you told me about being a Planet Racer? I was curious about where Don had been sent so I asked. He completely shut down on me."

The brothers all looked at each other and then Raph said, "Ya know, he never has talked about the time line that Drako character sent him to. The rest of us must've talked a mile a minute about the places where we got sent."

"What's that got to do with you freaking out about Don being missing?" Mikey asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

April rubbed her forehead with a shaking hand, the beginnings of a stress induced headache starting there. "Because in the time line that Don was sent to, his double had disappeared thirty years earlier. Disappeared without a trace, leaving his family to search for him before eventually everything fell apart. Including their world."

Drawing a shuddering breath, April proceeded to relay the story just as Donatello had told it to her. None of the nightmarish quality of the tale faded with the second telling; in fact, it was made worse by the fact that Don was now actually missing.

There was dead silence when April finished speaking. She was working hard to avoid crying, but tears had formed in her eyes anyway, making it difficult for her to read the expressions on the faces around her.

The silence was broken when Raph smashed his fist into the wall, making April jump.

"What the shell was he thinking? He should've told us!" Raph shouted.

"He told me he was afraid to say anything," April responded quickly before Raph could punch another hole in the plaster. "He didn't want the three of you to behave any differently. Don didn't want his experience to color your lives."

"So that's what he meant when he told me I had both my arms," Mikey muttered.

"Bishop, it's gotta be Bishop!" Raph exclaimed, clearly agitated to the point where he was about to lose control.

April had known it wouldn't take them much time to come to the same conclusion that she'd reached. She stood up, worried that they'd rush off to find Bishop without a plan and endanger themselves.

"You said Don told you that the Shredder put a bounty on his head as soon as his patrols reported that they'd spotted him," Leo said. "That means the Shredder had nothing to do with that Donatello's disappearance."

"I'm telling ya' Leo, it's that damn Agent Bishop," Raph rasped, crossing over to stand directly in front of his older brother. "We gotta find him now. We gotta get Don back before he does something to him."

"And how do we find him?" Leo asked, his back teeth grinding together. "That's Donny's area of expertise. Bishop's base of operations moves constantly, I wouldn't know where to begin our search."

"We can't just wait around here," Raph snapped. "Let's get Leatherhead to help us track Donny down."

"We'll tear up this whole damn town ta find him, Raph," Casey promised.

"If Bishop hurts him, I swear I'll . . . ." Raph's tirade was interrupted by the sharp ring tone of Mikey's shell cell.

Everyone spun in his direction as Mikey, eyes wide, snatched the cell phone from his belt and answered it.

"Don! Donny? Donny is that you?" Mikey shouted into the phone.

TBC…..


	3. Chapter 3 final

Don's Secret  
part 3 final

"Donny?" Mikey repeated, squinting as he pressed the phone harder against his head.

Leo was next to him in a flash, reaching for and taking the phone from Mikey's hand. From where she was standing, April could hear loud static coming from the shell cell, but nothing else.

"Donatello?" Leo asked, his tone deep as he used his leader's voice. "We can't hear anything. If it's you, tap the keys."

The static continued for another second and then there was nothing.

"Donny? Don!" Leo shouted into the phone, scowling in frustration.

"Did ya' get anything?" Raph asked, practically standing on Leo's feet as he too listened for further sounds from the now dead phone line.

"Nothing," Leo said, slowly handing the phone back to Mikey.

"Maybe whoever's got him discovered he was trying ta call you guys," Casey suggested. "That means he's okay, right?"

"I don't know what that means," Leo said. Looking at his little brother, he asked, "Tracker?"

"Still only showing the three of us dude," Mikey said. "If his phone's busted that might be why we can't track him."

"This is stupid!" Raph yelled. "I'm not staring at these walls anymore! Bishop's got Don. I'm gonna grab LH, we're gonna find Mr. Agent Man, and I'm gonna feed him his own body parts until he tells me where Don is."

"And if it isn't Bishop who has Don, what then?" Mikey asked, his tone flat. "We'll be battling for our lives against Bishop and his flunkies and we won't be there to help Don if he does manage to get a message to us."

"So what do you want to do, huh?" Raph snarled, turning on his younger brother. "Stand around here talking? The odds of us finding Don your way is a flat zero. At least if we go after Bishop the odds go up."

"Maybe the Purple Dragons got him," Casey offered.

April shook her head. "No. Don specifically said that Hun and Stockman had joined the resistance fighters. They were both surprised to see Don. Neither of them knew what had happened to him."

Leo held his hand up, signaling for their attention. "We're jumping to conclusions," he said thoughtfully. "There's no reason to assume his disappearance is in any way related to what happened to him in that other time line."

"That's too much damn coincidence for me to swallow whole, Leo," Raph stormed. "Ya' know what, I don't care one way or the other. All I know is Don's missing and I'm gonna tear this whole damn city apart to find him."

He started to storm towards the door. Leo made a quick move in his direction and April had a sinking feeling that this was the beginning of one of their bad arguments. This was absolutely not the time for those two to get into it, but April could understand where each of them was coming from.

Raph didn't do well with just sitting around; his imagination had too much time to create worst case scenarios that were a challenge to his patience. On the other hand, Leo couldn't afford to have Raph go off half-cocked, putting himself and their team in danger with his reactionary recklessness.

"Raph stop! Stop!" Leo called, darting around in front of his brother.

"Don't make me move ya'," Raph threatened.

"We're not going to stand around doing nothing, I promise," Leo told him in as placating a tone as he could manage. "You say we should be out searching for Don and I agree. But let's do this the smart way so that we aren't going in circles."

April could tell that Leo was striving to be non-confrontational in an effort to diffuse what was quickly becoming an emotionally charged situation. Determined to help with that, she walked over to them, standing next to the pair and drawing Raph's eyes to her so he'd stop glaring at his older brother.

"Tell us what you want us to do, Leo," April said.

Turning to address April, Leo kept watch on Raph from the corner of his eye. "It's going to be daylight soon," he began, pausing at a growl from Raph. Seeing that his brother was going to let him finish, Leo continued. "We can't search topside once it turns light. Asking Leatherhead to help us is a sound idea; I think you and Raph should head over to his place. Maybe he can come up with an alternate way to track Don."

"I've been thinking about that," April said. "Actually, Don and I have. It's one of the theories we wanted to test but haven't had the time. Your mutated bodies are unique in a number of ways, one of which is body temperature. I think Don started working on an infrared scanner that is calibrated to seek out your individual temperature signatures. If we can find it in Don's lab then Leatherhead can probably complete the work on it."

"How quickly do you think that can be rigged up?" Leo asked.

"With Leatherhead and I both working on it? A couple of hours at the most. It isn't new technology, we just have to modify it," April answered.

"Good. When it's ready I'll use the helicopter we took from the Shredder to scan the city from the air with that device. Will it work from that altitude?" Leo asked.

"I'll make sure that it does," April said.

She could see that Raph was getting agitated again. Apparently Leo did too. "While April and Leatherhead are working on the scanner, we'll take the sewer sliders and search the tunnels. We'll each take a section so that we don't overlap and waste time."

"I can get Angel ta help," Casey said. "She has a lot of street contacts. The two of us can canvas the area and get people to keep their eyes open for one of the guys in the green suits. That's what the folks topside call you four. If by some chance it is Hun that's got Don, Angel will find out."

"What if he comes here, or goes to Casey's place while we're all out searching for him?" April asked.

"Doesn't Don have a basket full of those perimeter doohickey's that go off when someone walks past them?" Mikey asked. "Let's put some in both apartments and April can monitor them from the lair."

Raph gripped Leo's arm, drawing his attention. "Ask Master Splinter to see if he can reach Donny through meditation. They did that once when Don got caught by the Triceratons."

"I will. We're going to find him, Raph," Leo assured his brother.

"When we do, he ain't ever leaving without an escort again," Raph growled. "Are we done talking? Let's go."

They were all turning towards the door when a sound from the interior staircase caught their attention. Spinning in that direction, the turtle's hands went automatically to their weapons and Casey jumped in front of April, his bat at the ready.

The first thing they all saw was the top of an olive green dome, quickly followed by brown eyes swathed in purple.

"Donny!" April screamed, catapulting herself straight into the arms of a thoroughly startled Donatello.

Mikey was on him at almost the exact same moment, his hands patting areas all over Don's body. Don disentangled himself from April's tight grip, his eyes wide as he shoved Mikey's hands away.

"What are you doing?" Don asked.

"Making sure you're all in one piece," Mikey told him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Don shrugged his duffel bag off his shoulder and set in on the ground. When he straightened up, he found Raph right in his face.

"Where the shell have ya' been? We've been looking for ya' for hours," Raph barked.

"We thought you'd been captured Don," Leo said. "No one knew where you were and you weren't answering your phone. We tried tracking it but it doesn't it's not even showing up on the screen."

"I've been at the homeless shelter where the Professor and his friends are staying. The oven went out and I was working on it," Don explained.

"You've been there this whole time?" Raph asked, both his voice and his stance indicating that he was still highly aggravated.

"Yeah," Don said, appearing puzzled. "I left a note on the fridge telling you guys where I was going and that I'd probably be late getting back."

"We didn't see a note," Leo told him.

Mikey snapped his fingers and asked, "Did you put the note on the lower part of the fridge?"

"Yes I did," Don said. "The top half was crowded with stuff and I wanted to make sure you saw it."

Mikey looked disconcerted as he said, "I moved everything 'cause Klunk has a new bad habit of pawing things off the fridge. I guess I forgot to tell you. He probably ate your note."

"Ya' gave us a good scare," Casey said. "Why didn't ya' answer the phone? Your bro's musta called ya' a million times tonight."

Don grimaced. "I put it on the kitchen counter at the shelter because it was in the way when I had to crawl behind the oven. One of the older men there saw it and thought it was a frozen burger. He stuck it in the microwave and it blew up."

After the intense stress of the previous evening the absurdity of the mental picture created by that explanation was too much for April. She started to giggle, placing a hand over her mouth to stop it, but that only made it funnier. In a second she was laughing hard enough to bring tears to her eyes and it didn't help that everyone but Don started to laugh too.

"Crap Donny," Raph said when he could finally talk, "don't ya' ever do that to us again."

"He won't," Leo said, swiping the back of his hand across his eyes. "New house rule Don, you don't go anywhere alone ever again."

Don frowned. "Why the heck not? What makes you think I want any of you tagging along behind me and griping like you always do about having to watch me dig through the junk yard? That's why I go by myself."

"Not anymore," Raph announced in a no nonsense tone of voice. "And don't even think about trying to sneak out without us. We're gonna be watching ya' like a hawk."

"Oh come on," Don said, flinging his hands up in frustration. "This isn't the first time one of us has been out all night. I'm sorry for the odd series of circumstances that made you all worry about me, but hounding my every move is a bit drastic. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is ya' didn't tell us what happened to ya' in that time line the Ultimate Drako sent ya' to," Raph said, poking Don's chest with a finger. "Ya' didn't tell us that ya' disappeared and Shredder took over the world."

Don's mouth fell open and he turned to stare at April. She could feel her face growing crimson at the accusation in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Don," April said in a small voice. "I panicked when they called to tell me they didn't know where you were."

"It's not her fault," Leo said, stepping closer to his genius brother. "I forced her to tell us because I could see she was holding something back. I needed to know what she knew in case it could give us a clue to your whereabouts. Don't be angry with April. I convinced her that talking was the best way to save your life."

"Why didn't you tell us yourself?" Mikey asked, his eyes pleading for an explanation.

"This is exactly why I never told any of you," Don burst out, waving his hand around at all of them. "If you could have called out the National Guard you probably would have. Now you know the story and the first thing you do is start pontificating about stalking my every move. I didn't want to live with your constant worry. It was hard enough living with mine."

"You told me it was because you didn't want Mikey to obsess about his arm or for Leo and Raph's interactions to change," April said.

"That too. Don't you see; every time I wanted to go out one of you would feel obligated to tag along. The reason for you having to do that would remind you of my story and would color every action you took," Don said. "I worried that every time we engaged in a battle Mikey would be so focused on protecting his arm he wouldn't be effective and it would end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Don looked at Leo and continued. "I thought you'd start second guessing your decisions and not want to leave the lair because something might happen to Master Splinter." He glanced at Raph. "And I was concerned that you would stop questioning Leo's plans because you'd be afraid you'd start a rift between the two of you. He needs you to push him the way that you do, it's what keeps Leo sharp."

"We ain't gonna change just 'cause of what happened to ya'," Raph insisted.

With a huff, Don said, "You've already changed. Listen to yourselves; 'new house rule', 'watching you like a hawk', 'making sure you're all in one piece'. Ex- _squeeze_ me, but how is that _not_ different from how things used to be?"

Raph opened his mouth to say something but Leo spoke first. "You're right. This entire situation is untenable."

"I think my reaction is completely justified by . . . ." Don exploded defensively.

"Yes it is," Leo said, his voiced raised as he talked over Don's outburst. Exhaling audibly, he went on. "Your concerns are valid, Donny. We all proved that tonight. It isn't reasonable for us to spend the rest of our lives freaking out every time you're out of our sight."

"What are ya' talking about, Leo?" Raph demanded. "How the shell do ya' expect us to ignore what happened to Don? We all know how many times we would have bit the dust if it wasn't for his big brains. Besides that, I ain't losing my brother."

Scowling at Don, Raph said, "I don't care how pissed off ya' get Donny-boy, I ain't taking the chance that something happens to ya'. Tonight, before I ever heard that damn story, I was going crazy thinking Shredder or Bishop had gotten their hands on ya'. I kept seeing ya' beaten by the Foot or laying on Bishop's table while he sawed . . . sawed . . . ahh!"

Unable to finish the sentence, Raph spun around and kicked the coffee table, sending it flying against the couch. Mikey darted forward and caught it before it could bounce back and cause more damage, though it did lose a leg to Raph's tantrum.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Raph," Don murmured as he began rubbing his brother's carapace.

"I wasn't talking about ignoring what happened to Donatello," Leo said, his voice low. "We can't, it's as simple as that. Our problem isn't what Don experienced in that other time line, it's the position we're in here and now, in our world. It's the position we've always been in, the position that Shredder has placed us in. It seems to me that the best way to assuage our fears that the other future world might happen to us would be to remove the Shredder. Permanently."

"Are you saying we should attack him again?" Mikey asked.

"Now you're talking," Raph said, lifting his head. "No more Shredder sounds like a damn fine idea to me. When do we start?"

Leo shook his head. "Don't go patting my shell just yet bro'. We need to consult with Master Splinter about this decision. He should have the opportunity to meditate on the situation and decide if this can be done now. We don't have many advantages and sensei is the one to tell us how to make the best use of any we do have."

"I'll bet Master Yoshi would want us to destroy the Shredder," Mikey said.

"We'll help," April said, offering for herself and Casey as well. "I don't like how things turned out in that other time line any better than you guys do." She glanced at Casey and added, "I don't want to live with that fear."

"Me either babe," Casey told her.

"That's settled then," Leo said. "It'll be daylight soon, let's go home. Master Splinter is probably frantic with worry by now."

"He's okay," Don said. "I went to the lair first and he told me you guys were here. I tried using Sensei's phone to call you, but he somehow dripped candle wax inside of it and I got nothing but static. He said you guys would want me to come here right away."

"Yeah, he probably didn't want to see me kick your shell for making us worry," Raph said, a touch of relieved humor in his voice.

"Come on Raph, I'll race ya' down ta the corner of Bridge street," Casey called, trotting through the door ahead of his friend.

"You're so on, wack bag," Raph said, running after him.

Mikey walked with Leo towards the door. "At least he'll burn off some of the steam from that temper of his," Mikey told his older brother. They both paused to wave at April before descending the stairs.

April walked with Don to the door, stopping when he did. "Are we all right?" she asked tentatively.

"Of course we are," Don said. "You were right to question why I didn't tell my brothers about my experience. I see now that I should have told them as soon as it was all over. I should have trusted that they could handle it. We're a team and my big mistake was forgetting that we should always deal with everything together."

"You don't have to go through anything alone, Donny," April said. "We're all here for you."

"We're all here for each other," Don said with a soft smile. "Thanks sis."

As she closed the door behind him, April emitted a thankful sigh. "Anytime Donny."

The End


End file.
